Bond of Perfection
Chapter discussions
Group Three:
Brian Rebholtz
Tresphord Chisanga
Sung Han Lee
Tresphord Chisanga
Sung Han Lee
The deeply mystical character of St. Francis and St. Jane de Chantal's friendship is surprising. Wendy Wright attempts to place these two figures within a larger tradition of contemplative, male-female frienships among Christians, but St. F and St. J seem to stand out. They are certainly no Abelard and Heloise. St. Francis even goes so far as to feel that St. Jane de Chantal is union with him when he celebrates the mass!
The romantic tone of their personal letters is also intriguing. Once again, Wendy Wright insists that the language was understood as "God-given and God-directed" but even so both St. J and St. F knew that they were breaking conventional manners of interaction. St. Francis especially was aware that if others found his letter from St. Jane de Chantal that their relationship would be misunderstood. We found it interesting that Wendy Wright is so quick to separate any sense of romantic fulfillment from the letters. Even without positing a physical relationship betwee the two, is it not conceivable that both St. F and St. J were able to express and explore their own natural longings for human relationship through their shared use of a mystical language of love and union?
What is New?
The distinction between nakedness and nudity is interesting, not only for its ribald character but also because St. Francis reverses what we would expect. Rather than make nudity the positive expression of embodiment, St. Francis makes nakedness the positive expression, drawing on the Genesis accounts to express a spirituality of being stripped bare before God.
Sung Han Lee mentioned that in Korea marriages are explicitly hierarchical. It was new for him to think of marriage as deeply rooted in friendship and mutuality.
St. Jane de Chantal's interest in apophatic spirituality is new. Her mixing with Carmelite women and her tendency to ecstatic states is a step outside of Salesian Spirituality. We found it interesting that this style of piety seems to distinguish her from St. Francis de Sales.
Also, we found St. Jane de Chantal's clear struggle with feminine culture and her rejection of beauty to set her apart from St. Francis in a hitherto unknown way. Indeed, St. Francis had to counsel her twice to relax her standards and allow for women to "be a little bit pretty." It is clear that St. Jane never fully embraced the world-affirming piety of St. Francis de Sales.
What resonates with our own journey?
We were deeply impressed with St. Francis and St. Jane's use of a rich matrix of feminine imagery to describe the spiritual life. We felt these images were both potent and accessible (even to men) and that they put a new and much needed perspective on Christian spiritual practice.
Likewise, we resonated with St. Francis' insistence that all relationships can be Christ-bearing relationships if both partners are attentive to that reality. In other words, friendship is in its deepest sense a spiritual discipline.
Lastly, we appreciated St. Francis de Sales' model of spiritual direction, which was not relegated to crisis-intervention, but also included a wider and more congenial pattern of interaction. For St. Francis, spiritual direction includes joy and everyday progress as well as crises and struggles, and we all felt that this is an aspect of spiritual direction that is often overlooked, especially now that so much spiritual direction has morphed in therapy rather than spiritual accompaniment.
The romantic tone of their personal letters is also intriguing. Once again, Wendy Wright insists that the language was understood as "God-given and God-directed" but even so both St. J and St. F knew that they were breaking conventional manners of interaction. St. Francis especially was aware that if others found his letter from St. Jane de Chantal that their relationship would be misunderstood. We found it interesting that Wendy Wright is so quick to separate any sense of romantic fulfillment from the letters. Even without positing a physical relationship betwee the two, is it not conceivable that both St. F and St. J were able to express and explore their own natural longings for human relationship through their shared use of a mystical language of love and union?
What is New?
The distinction between nakedness and nudity is interesting, not only for its ribald character but also because St. Francis reverses what we would expect. Rather than make nudity the positive expression of embodiment, St. Francis makes nakedness the positive expression, drawing on the Genesis accounts to express a spirituality of being stripped bare before God.
Sung Han Lee mentioned that in Korea marriages are explicitly hierarchical. It was new for him to think of marriage as deeply rooted in friendship and mutuality.
St. Jane de Chantal's interest in apophatic spirituality is new. Her mixing with Carmelite women and her tendency to ecstatic states is a step outside of Salesian Spirituality. We found it interesting that this style of piety seems to distinguish her from St. Francis de Sales.
Also, we found St. Jane de Chantal's clear struggle with feminine culture and her rejection of beauty to set her apart from St. Francis in a hitherto unknown way. Indeed, St. Francis had to counsel her twice to relax her standards and allow for women to "be a little bit pretty." It is clear that St. Jane never fully embraced the world-affirming piety of St. Francis de Sales.
What resonates with our own journey?
We were deeply impressed with St. Francis and St. Jane's use of a rich matrix of feminine imagery to describe the spiritual life. We felt these images were both potent and accessible (even to men) and that they put a new and much needed perspective on Christian spiritual practice.
Likewise, we resonated with St. Francis' insistence that all relationships can be Christ-bearing relationships if both partners are attentive to that reality. In other words, friendship is in its deepest sense a spiritual discipline.
Lastly, we appreciated St. Francis de Sales' model of spiritual direction, which was not relegated to crisis-intervention, but also included a wider and more congenial pattern of interaction. For St. Francis, spiritual direction includes joy and everyday progress as well as crises and struggles, and we all felt that this is an aspect of spiritual direction that is often overlooked, especially now that so much spiritual direction has morphed in therapy rather than spiritual accompaniment.
Submitted by Brian Rebholtz
Photo by Joe Boenzi: Flowering PSR at Berkeley, 5 April 2007
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